According to contemporary sources, Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob or by Christian zealots known as Parabalani after being accused of exacerbating a conflict between two prominent figures in Alexandria, the governor, Orestes, and the bishop, Cyril of Alexandria.[11][12]

Although contemporary fifth-century sources identify Hypatia of Alexandria as a practitioner and teacher of the philosophy of Plato and Plotinus, two hundred years later, the seventh-century Egyptian Coptic bishop John of Nikiû identified her as a Hellenistic pagan and that "she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her Satanic wiles".[19][20] However, not all Christians were as hostile towards her: some Christians even used Hypatia as symbolic of Virtue.[6] The contemporary Christian historian Socrates of Constantinople described her in his Ecclesiastical History:

There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more.[6]

Hypatia corresponded with former pupil Synesius, who was tutored by her in the philosophical school of Platonism and later became bishop of Ptolemais (now in eastern Libya) in 410, an exponent of Trinitarianism.[21] Together with the references by the pagan philosopher Damascius, these are the extant records left by Hypatia's pupils at the Platonist school of Alexandria.[22]

Her death is symbolic for some historians. For example, Kathleen Wider proposes that the murder of Hypatia marked the end of Classical antiquity,[23] and Stephen Greenblatt observes that her murder "effectively marked the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life".[24] On the other hand, Christian Wildberg notes that Hellenistic philosophy continued to flourish in the 5th and 6th centuries, and perhaps until the age of Justinian I.[25][26]

Of the many accounts of Hypatia's death, the most complete is the one written around 415 by Socrates of Constantinople and included in the Historia Ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History).

According to this account, in 415 a feud began over Jewish dancing exhibitions in Alexandria, which attracted large crowds and were commonly prone to civil disorder of varying degrees. Orestes, the Roman governor of Alexandria, and Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, engaged in a bitter feud in which Hypatia eventually became a main point of contention. Orestes published an edict that outlined new regulations for such gatherings, and crowds gathered to read the edict shortly after it was posted in the city's theater. The edict angered Christians as well as Jews. At one such gathering, Hierax, a devout Christian follower of Cyril, read the edict and applauded the new regulations. Many people felt that Hierax was attempting to incite the crowd into sedition. Orestes reacted swiftly and violently out of what Scholasticus suspected was "jealousy [of] the growing power of the bishops…[which] encroached on the jurisdiction of the authorities". He ordered Hierax to be seized and tortured publicly in the theater.

Hearing of Hierax's severe and public punishment, Cyril threatened to retaliate against the Jews of Alexandria with "the utmost severities" if the harassment of Christians did not cease immediately. In response to Cyril's threat, the Jews of Alexandria grew even more furious, eventually resorting to violence against the Christians.

In an early blood libel offered as justification for acts by Cyril depriving Jews of property, Socrates of Constantinople recounts that the Jews had plotted to flush out the Christians at night by running through the streets claiming that the Church of Alexander was on fire. Christians had then responded to what they believed was their church burning down, and "the Jews immediately fell upon and slew them," using rings to recognize one another in the dark and killing everyone else in sight. According to the blood libel, the Jews of Alexandria could not hide their guilt when the morning came, and Cyril, along with many of his followers, took to the city's synagogues in search of the perpetrators of the massacre.

Cyril rounded up all the Jews in Alexandria, then ordered them to be stripped of all possessions, banished them from Alexandria, and allowed their goods to be pillaged by the remaining citizens of Alexandria. Overlooking the supposed massacre of the night before, "Orestes [...] was filled with great indignation at these transactions, and was excessively grieved that a city of such magnitude should have been suddenly bereft of so large a portion of its population." The feud between Cyril and Orestes intensified because of these things, and both men wrote to the emperor regarding the situation. Eventually, Cyril attempted to reach out to Orestes through several peace overtures, including attempted mediation. When that failed, he made an appeal to Orestes's allegiances as a Christian Roman,[27] showing the Gospels to him. Nevertheless, Orestes remained unmoved by such gestures.

Meanwhile, approximately 500 monks resided in the mountains of Nitria who were "of a very fiery disposition". They heard of the ongoing feud between the Governor and Bishop and descended into Alexandria armed and prepared to fight alongside Cyril. Upon their arrival, the monks intercepted Orestes's chariot and proceeded to bombard and harass him, calling him a pagan idolater. In response to such allegations, Orestes countered that he was actually a Christian and had even been baptized by Atticus, the Bishop of Constantinople. The monks paid little attention to Orestes's claims of Christianity, and one of the monks named Ammonius struck Orestes in the head with a rock, causing him to bleed profusely. At this point, Orestes's guards fled in fear, but a nearby crowd of Alexandrians came to his aid. Ammonius was subsequently captured and ordered to be tortured for his actions, during which he died.

Following the death of Ammonius, Cyril ordered that he henceforth be remembered as a martyr. Such a proclamation did not sit well with "sober-minded" Christians, as Scholasticus pointed out, seeing that he "suffered the punishment due to his rashness he would not deny Christ". This fact, according to Scholasticus, became apparent to Cyril through general lack of enthusiasm for Ammonius's case for martyrdom.

Scholasticus then introduces Hypatia, the female philosopher of Alexandria and the woman who became a target of the Christian anger that was inflamed during the feud. She was the daughter of Theon and a teacher trained in the philosophical schools of Plato and Plotinus. She was admired by most for her dignity and virtue. Scholasticus writes that Hypatia ultimately fell "victim to the political jealousy which at the time prevailed". Orestes was known to seek her counsel, and a rumor spread among the Christian community of Alexandria blaming her for Orestes's unwillingness to reconcile with Cyril. A mob of Christians gathered, led by a reader (i.e., a minor cleric) named Peter, whom Scholasticus calls a fanatic. They kidnapped Hypatia on her way home and took her to the "Church called Caesareum. They then completely stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles." Socrates Scholasticus was interpreted as saying that, while she was still alive, Hypatia's flesh was torn off ὀστράκοις, which literally means "with or by oyster shells, potsherds or roof tiles".[28] Afterward, the men proceeded to mutilate her and, finally, burn her limbs. News of Hypatia's murder provoked great public denouncement, not only against Cyril but against the whole Alexandrian Christian community. Socrates closes with a lament: "Surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort."

Hypatia's death is also told in another source, The Chronicle,[29] written by John of Nikiû in Egypt around 650. This account demonizes Hypatia and Orestes directly, while validating all Christians involved in the events John describes. The Chronicle is more biased on the matter of the historical feud, omitting several points of the narrative that are included in Socrates' account.[30]

John, who lived several hundred years after the events he describes, writes bitterly of Hypatia, claiming that "she beguiled many people through (her) Satanic wiles".[31] Orestes, who John writes was himself a victim of Hypatia's demonic charm, regularly honored her and abandoned the Christian Church in order to follow her teachings more closely. Moreover, the bishop claimed that Orestes himself persuaded others to leave the Church in favor of Hypatia's philosophical teachings and went as far as to host such "unbelievers" at his house.

One day, Orestes published an edict "regarding public exhibitions in the city of Alexandria" and all citizens gathered to read the edict. Cyril, curious to see why the edict caused such an uproar, sent Hierax, a "Christian possessing understanding and intelligence", who, although opposed to paganism, did as Cyril asked and went to learn the nature of Orestes's edict. Meanwhile, the Jews who gathered in anger over the edict believed that Hierax had come only for the sake of provocation (which, according to Socrates’ text, was Hierax's intent). Upon this assumption, Orestes had Hierax punished for a crime for which "he was wholly guiltless".

For the punishment and torture of Hierax, as well as the death of several monks, including Ammonius, Cyril grew increasingly furious with Orestes. (Here, John blatantly ignores the assault on Orestes by the 500 monks, in which Ammonius played an active role in bringing about his own torture and death.) Cyril then warned the Jews against any further harm upon the Christians. However, with the support of Orestes (which is in no way implied by Socrates), the Jews felt confident in defying Cyril's authority, and so one night ran through the streets proclaiming: "The church of the apostolic Athanasius (Alexander) is on fire: come to its succour, all ye Christians." The Christians responded to the alarms only to be slaughtered by the Jews in a coordinated ambush.

The next morning, all remaining Christians of the town came to Cyril with news of the massacre, after which Cyril marched with them to purge the Jews from Alexandria. In so doing, Cyril allowed the pillaging of their possessions, and soon after purified all the synagogues in the city and made them into Churches (Socrates makes no mention of "purifying" the synagogues). In the expulsion of the Jews, Orestes was unable to offer them any assistance.

Shortly thereafter, a group of Christians, under Peter the magistrate, went looking for Hypatia, the "pagan woman who had beguiled the people of the city and the prefect through her enchantments". They found her sitting in a chair, at which point they seized and brought her to "the great church, named Caesarion", where they proceeded to rip the clothes off her body. Then they dragged her through the streets of Alexandria until she died and burned her remains. John's description of Hypatia's death also differs from that of Socrates. Following the death of Hypatia, Bishop Cyril was named "the new Theophilus". With the death of Hypatia, John writes, the Christians had expelled the last remnant of pagan idolatry.

Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes, it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace that it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop. Some of them, therefore, hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal, whose ringleader was a reader named Peter, waylaid her returning home and, dragging her from her carriage, they took her to the church called Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them.[32]

And, in those days, there appeared in Alexandria a female philosopher, a pagan named Hypatia, and she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes, and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through Satanic wiles . . . A multitude of believers in God arose under the guidance of Peter the Magistrate . . . and they proceeded to seek for the pagan woman who had beguiled the people of the city and the Prefect through her enchantments. And when they learnt the place where she was, they proceeded to her and found her . . . they dragged her along till they brought her to the great church, named Caesareum. Now this was in the days of the fast. And they tore off her clothing and dragged her . . . through the streets of the city till she died. And they carried her to a place named Cinaron, and they burned her body with fire.[19]

No written work widely recognized by scholars as Hypatia's own has survived to the present time. Many of the works commonly attributed to her are believed to have been collaborative works with her father, Theon Alexandricus. This kind of authorial uncertainty is typical for female philosophers in antiquity.[33]

A partial list of Hypatia's works as mentioned by other antique and medieval authors or as posited by modern authors:

Edited the existing version of Ptolemy's Almagest. "Until recently scholars thought that Hypatia revised Theon's commentary on Almagest. The view was based on the title of the commentary on the third book of Almagest, which read: "Commentary by Theon of Alexandria on Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest, edition revised by my daughter Hypatia, the philosopher." Cameron, who analyzed Theon's titles for other books of Almagest and for other scholarly texts of late antiquity, concludes that Hypatia corrected not her father's commentary but the text of Almagest itself. Thus, the extant text of Almagest could have been prepared, at least partly, by Hypatia".[34]

She wrote a text "The Astronomical Canon".[17] (Either a new edition of Ptolemy's Handy Tables or commentary on the aforementioned Almagest.)[36][37][38]

Her contributions to technology are reputed to include the invention of the hydrometer,[39] used to determine the relative density (or specific gravity) of liquids. However, the hydrometer was invented before Hypatia, and already known in her time.[40][41] Some say[who?] that this is a textual misinterpretation of the original Greek, which mentions a hydroscopium (ὑδροσκοπίον) - a clock that works with water and gears, similar to the Antikythera mechanism.[citation needed]

Her student Synesius, bishop of Cyrene, wrote a letter describing his construction of an astrolabe.[42] Earlier astrolabes predate that of Synesius by at least a century,[43][44] and Hypatia's father had gained fame for his treatise on the subject.[45] However, Synesius claimed that his was an improved model.[46] Synesius also sent Hypatia a letter describing a hydrometer, and requesting her to have one constructed for him.[47]

In 1995 Maria Dzielska wrote a biography of Hypatia based on current scholarship. Her Hypatia of Alexandria presents historical sources and contextual information as well as ideas for how legends associated with Hypatia arose. [48]

Hypatia has been considered a universal genius, as described in MacDonald and Weldon's history of civilization.[49]

Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr (2007) is a brief (231 page) biography by Michael Deakin, with a focus on her mathematical research. [50]

Ari Belenkiy describes Hypatia's astronomical work as pivotal for the politics of the region, focusing on controversies related to observations of the equinox and the timing of festivals, ultimately serving to highlight errors in Ptolemy's work and the need for independent observation. In two consecutive works (2010, 2016) Belenkiy proposed an astronomical-calendrical paradigm for Hypatia's murder. Comparing two principal sources on Hypatia, of Socrates Scholasticus and Philostorgius, Belenkiy suggests that Hypatia carried equinoctial observations in 414-415 CE, initiated on the request of governor Orestes, which could be the litmus test of who was right in the conflicts over the Easter day in 414 CE waged by Cyril, the Bishop of the Alexandrian Church, with the local Jewish and Novatian communities. Hypatia's success in establishing the correct day of the vernal equinox could undermine the Alexandrian Church's authority in the timing of Easter, as it used equinoctial computations based on Ptolemy's Syntaxis (Almagest). Fearing the test will lead to undesired consequences, a gang of Cyril's followers plausibly may have ambushed and murdered her. Her murder thus was plausibly due to her astronomical observations. [51][52]

Legends about Hypatia's possible marriage are discussed in the 10th century ByzantineSuda encyclopedia, which states that Hypatia was "the wife of Isidore the Philosopher" (apparently Isidore of Alexandria);[17] however, Isidore of Alexandria was not born until long after Hypatia's death, and no other philosopher of that name contemporary with Hypatia is known.[53] The Suda also stated that "she remained a virgin" and that she rejected a suitor with her menstrual rags, saying that they demonstrated that there is "nothing beautiful" about carnal desire—an example of a Christian source using Hypatia as a symbol of Virtue.[17][54][55]

Shortly after her murder, there appeared under Hypatia's name a forged anti-Christian letter.[56] The Neoplatonist historian Damascius (c. 458 – c. 538) was "anxious to exploit the scandal of Hypatia's death", and attributed responsibility for her murder to Bishop Cyril and his Christian followers; that historical account is contained in the Suda.[57] Damascius's account of the Christian murder of Hypatia is the sole historical source attributing direct responsibility to Bishop Cyril.[58] Maria Dzielska proposes that the bishop's bodyguards might have murdered Hypatia.[59]

Centuries later, the early 18th-century Deist scholar John Toland used the murder of Hypatia as the basis for the anti-Catholic tract, Hypatia: Or the History of a most beautiful, most vertuous, most learned, and every way accomplish'd Lady; who was torn to pieces by the Clergy of Alexandria, to gratify the pride, emulation, and cruelty of their Archbishop, commonly, but undeservedly, stil'd St. Cyril.[62] In turn, Thomas Lewis, in 1721, defended the Christians with The History of Hypatia, a most Impudent School-Mistress of Alexandria: Murder'd and torn to Pieces by the Populace, in Defence of Saint Cyril and the Alexandrian Clergy from the Aspersions of Mr. Toland.[63]

In the 19th century, interest in the "literary legend of Hypatia" began to rise.[64]Diodata Saluzzo Roero's 1827 Ipazia ovvero delle Filosofie suggested that Cyril had actually converted Hypatia to Christianity, and that she had been killed by a "treacherous" priest.[65]

In 1843, German authors Soldan and Heppe argued in their highly influential History of the Witchcraft Trials that Hypatia may have been, in effect, the first famous "witch" punished under Christian authority (see witch-hunt).[66]

In his 1852 Hypatie and 1857 Hypathie et Cyrille, French poet Leconte de Lisle portrayed Hypatia as the epitome of "vulnerable truth and beauty".[67]

A more scholarly historical study of her, Hypatia of Alexandria by Maria Dzielska (translated into English by F. Lyra, published by Harvard University Press), was named by Choice Magazine as an "Outstanding Academic Book of 1995, Philosophy Category".

The last two centuries have seen Hypatia's name honored in the sciences, especially astronomy. 238 Hypatia, a main belt asteroid discovered in 1884, was named for her. The lunar craterHypatia was named for her, in addition to craters named for her father Theon and for Cyril. The 180 km Rimae Hypatia are located north of the crater, one degree south of the equator, along the Mare Tranquillitatis.[75]

Her life continues to be fictionalized by authors in many countries and languages. Two recent examples are Ipazia, scienziata alessandrina by Adriano Petta (translated from the Italian in 2004 as Hypatia: Scientist of Alexandria), and Hypatia y la eternidad (Hypatia and Eternity) by Ramon Galí, a fanciful alternate history, in Spanish (2009).[77]

The 2014 version of Cosmos portrays Hypatia in a similar vein as the 1980 version.

In 2016 the play Hypatia's Math had its premiere at the Flagstaff Festival of Science and workshop performances at the Strand Theater in Baltimore at the Maryland STEM Festival. The structure of the play is similar to the history presented by Deakin. [88]

There is currently a petition to establish an annual festival commemorating Hypatia on March 20, based on that date as perhaps the date of her death—killed while making observations of the vernal equinox. This argument is described in academic work by Ari Belenkiy who is based in Vancouver, and the petition is to the Canadian government. [89]

^'For the sake of completeness we must mention the fact that SYNESIOS in his letter to HYPATIA mentions a hydrometer, which according to some was already known in the fourth century AD to PRISCIANUS, that is a century before SYNESIOS and HYPATIA.', Forbes, 'A Short History of the Art of Distillation: from the beginnings up to the death of Cellier Blumenthal', p. 25 (1970).

^'In 402, Hypatia receives a letter from the ailing Synesius giving a brief description of what he calls a hydroscope. This is a scientific instrument then in common use, although Hypatia is often credited with its invention.', Waithe, 'Ancient women philosophers, 600 B.C.-500 A.D.', p. 192 (1987).

^'In his letters he describes a hydroscope (really a hydrometer) he has made as well as a catapult. In addition to that, he had constructed what the ancients called an astrolabe, an instrument that demonstrated celestial phenomena. Cicero describes one invented by Archimedes; Hipparchus had made another; two first century A.D. models were commemorated in the Greek Anthology;', Thomas, 'Paths from Ancient Greece', p. 69 (1988).

^'It is generally accepted that Greek astrologers, in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BC, invented the astrolabe', Krebs, 'Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance', p. 196 (2004).

^'The invention of the astrolabe is usually attributed to Hipparchus of the second century BC. But there is no firm evidence to support this view. It is however certain that the instrument was well known to the Greeks before the beginning of the Christian era.', Sarma, 'The Archaic and the Exotic: studies in the history of Indian astronomical instruments', p. 241 (2008).

^'Claudius Ptolemy used astrolabes also, but Synesius says that his new one is an improved model based on later research.', Thomas, 'Paths from Ancient Greece', p. 69 (1988).

^"Ep. 15 is rather short, but gives interesting information: it contains a detailed description of a hydroscope, which Synesius asks Hypatia to order for him in Alexandria, requesting that she herself oversee its construction." Kari Vogt, "The Hierophant of Philosophy" – Hypatia of Alexandria, Kari Elisabeth Boerresen and Kari Vogt, Women's studies of the Christian and Islamic traditions: ancient, medieval, and Renaissance foremothers, p. 161 (1993).

^Snyder, Carol (1980–1981), "Reading the Language of "The Dinner Party"", Woman's Art Journal, 1 (2): 30–34, JSTOR1358081, Among the raised images distributed on the first two wings of the table are two with broken edges—the Hypatia and Petronilla da Meath plates. Chicago confirmed my reading of the broken edge as a reference to the violent deaths both women suffered".